Plot to kill Igboho, biggest threat to Nigeria’s peace and stability today

Former aviation minister Femi Fani-Kayode has said that the Nigerian government’s alleged plot to destroy or imprison Yoruba freedom fighter Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, is the most serious threat to the country’s peace and stability.

Igboho, who has been calling for the Oduduwa republic’s independence, once announced that Nigeria’s South-West region was no longer under its control. He had previously issued eviction orders to the Seriki Fulani of Igangan and other Fulani people who were allegedly causing havoc in the region.

Fani-remark Kayode’s comes as Olayomi Koiki, Igboho’s media aide, announced that the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, sent Igboho a letter of invitation.

The latter however refused to accept the letter, stating that the IGP had better invite bandits and Boko Haram terrorists with the same letter before addressing such to him.

Fani-Kayode in a Twitter thread shared on Friday said Igboho has committed no crime and that it will be counterproductive for the government to arrest him.

“I will mention this just once,” he wrote in his tweet. The plot by some hardliners in the Federal Government to kill, arrest, or detain my friend and brother Chief Sunday Adeyemo is the greatest threat to Nigeria’s peace and stability today (aka Sunday Igboho).

“Arresting, detaining or killing this man will be the biggest mistake that the Federal Government can make. I say this because firstly, as far as I am aware, he has not broken any law and secondly because he represents the thoughts and aspirations of over 70 million Yoruba people. To every single one of those people, he is the greatest hero of the South West since Oduduwa.

“Equally relevant is the fact that he has made a pledge to keep the peace and has honoured that pledge and commitment by participating and playing a key role in the biggest post-war peace deal in Nigerian history in which he singlehandedly guaranteed the safety of innocent Hausa Fulanis in the South West and even offered to protect and receive them after the food embargo on the South was lifted and when the Northern food suppliers refused to come South.

“Without Igboho’s guarantee of safety for the northerners, the embargo would never have been lifted and a major conflict would have ensued. I know because, together with Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state and others, I was deeply involved in the negotiations.

“There was also a plan to attack Southerners in the North (which would have resulted in a massive retaliation in the South) by a very powerful and well organised Northern group but this was dropped after Igboho gave his guarantee and committed to peace with those that come in peace and live in peace in Yorubaland.

“This man saved both northern and southern lives by this single action and has refused to join others in attacking innocent Hausa Fulanis in the South West.

“Instead, he has focused on defending the Yoruba people and protecting them against the homicidal and violent Fulani terrorists that are launching daily attacks against them from the forests of the West.

“For this, he is loved and revered by our people and neither will any self-respecting Yoruba person offer an apology.

“This is a matter of self-defence and Igboho has consistently carried out these heroic operations in conjunction and collaboration with the local law enforcement agencies. That is why millions love and admire him: he has done what the FG has failed to do and provided security for our people.

“To kill or arrest such a man who has committed no crime and who millions all over the SW love and would gladly die for is a dangerous, reckless and self-destructive course to take.

“And neither should his belief in the establishment of an Oduduwa Republic attract such aggression because he is simply reflecting the views and voicing the aspirations of millions of Yoruba people.

“If the Federal Government has an issue with Sunday Igboho, my counsel and advice is to dialogue with him and attempt to build bridges of peace and understanding rather than attempt to arrest or kill him or wage war against him.

“He is not a murderer or a terrorist and neither has he breached any law or committed any offence.

“All he has sought and fought for is peace and security and the protection of his people against foreign invaders and killers who have occupied our land and who the Federal Government have been unable or unwilling to uproot and eradicate.

“Those identifiable individuals from the South West that are jealous of Igboho’s rising profile and that have urged the Federal Government to kill or arrest him are the real enemies of the Buhari administration. They are also the enemies of the people of the South West and Nigeria.

“Arresting or killing Igboho will not help these people achieve their political objectives and aspirations. It will only make it impossible for them to do so and attract unprecedented hostility, opprobrium and notoriety to them. Treachery and betrayal come with a heavy price and if anyone doubts that they should find out how Judas ended.

“Peaceful co-existence with those we may not like or agree with is the only option we have as a people if we do not want another civil war.

“Building bridges of peace and fraternity even with those we may be opposed to is the best way forward if we wish to avoid an armed conflict.

“The greatest threat to our peace is for anyone to believe that the arrest or elimination of Sunday Igboho will not have serious consequences.

“This would be a grave miscalculation on the part of those who are contemplating it and would lead us down the road of turmoil, conflict, chaos and mutually-assured destruction. I pray that good sense prevails and that we avoid that road.”